The goals of the 40th Street Artist-in-Residence Program (AIR) are: 1) To address the need for artist studio space in West Philadelphia by offering studios rent-free, on a rotating basis, primarily to those artists who reside in Philadelphia neighborhoods west of the Schuykill River. 2) To assist in the career growth and provide exhibition opportunities for new and emerging artists, and those whose work has not been recognized in mainstream venues. 3) To enrich the area around 40th Street by placing artists in the neighborhood who share their creative talents with members of the local community.

Established in 1997, University City District (UCD) is a nonprofit, neighborhood-based 501 (c) 3 special services district dedicated to improving the quality of life in the 2.4 square mile area of West Philadelphia, known as University City. An independent organization, UCD builds effective partnerships to maintain a clean and safe environment and to promote, plan, and advocate for University City’s diverse, urban community.

by Jeffrey Barg

For the first few months, the question was always: Will anybody show up? While the organizers—mostly Penn students and their friends—milled about the Rotunda’s dark back room, just two or three attendees sitting on the carpet in the middle of the floor could make the space seem bigger and emptier than if no one were in it. Inevitably, a few more would trickle in and the artists would eventually take the stage (or the floor or the balcony or wherever the muse struck them), but early on, those dark couple of hours were always a question.

The Rotunda Birthday Celebration and Fundraisers: Fri., Sept. 25-Sun., Sept. 27. $3-$10. Rotunda,4014 Walnut St. 215.573.3234.therotunda.org

Now, a decade later, the Rotunda has played host to more than 2,000 events and a quarter of a million people. When attendees pack it in for this weekend’s 10th birthday bash, there’s more guarantee of a crowd, and fewer people will need to ask where the entrance is (on the side in the back, not through the row of arched double doors in front). But minus the apprehension, the vibe they walk into will be much the same.

“What’s amazing about it is how little has changed,” says Andrew Zitcer, who launched the project out of an undergraduate Penn class in the fall of ’98. Lights went up on the first show a year later. “We set up an architecture to empower community artists and didn’t set up many filters—and that hasn’t changed.”

Zitcer, working with like-minded Penn students at the time, began what was then the Foundation Community Arts Initiative with the goal of creating a space where university students and West Philly residents could come together through the arts—a fairly lofty ideal coming as it did at the end of the ’90s, a decade marked by hostile town-gown relations for Penn.

“We always started from the premise that it would be a community gathering place for the promotion of arts and culture,” says Zitcer, now 31. “The values and the work were key, as was the sense of access and celebration. That was a really powerful thing for us to create on 40th Street when 40th Street was just being reimagined.”

The area around 40th and Walnut, now one of the city’s major retail and entertainment corridors, looked very different at the time. There was no Bridge Cinema, no Distrito, no Metropolitan Bakery, no Marathon Grill, no Fresh Grocer. What was there was the majestic, empty old building that was formerly the First Church of Christ Scientist.

“There’s a lot of energy around here now,” says Gina Renzi, 31, the Rotunda’s director. “I don’t want to sound conceited for the Rotunda, but I really think we’re part of it because we bring something different every day, which means we’re bringing different people to the area.”

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